Good morning from Ukraine to those waking up on the east coast. Kyiv is still in Ukrainian hands, defying western intelligence assessments that it would fall in a matter of a few short days. In the south, more land appears to be under Russian control.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations are meeting on the border with Belarus to try to end the fighting, and find some diplomatic way out of this conflict. Hopes are not high for a breakthrough.
The Ukrainian government is seeking a ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops. The Russians fundamentally want a Ukrainian government more aligned with Moscow, and a pledge not to join NATO. They’re far apart.
Belarus, where negotiators are meeting, is not exactly neutral territory. There have even been suggestions this morning that Belarus will join Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/jamiewrit/status/1498175589915795457?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Within Kyiv there has been a constant lookout for Russian saboteurs, the stated reason for the weekend curfew. The fear has been that they would try to decapitate the leadership in the capital city to install their own regime.
Hundreds of Russia-aligned mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a private military company, are operating in Kyiv, according to reports, confirmed by an advisor to the Ukrainian ministry of internal affairs.
The mercenaries have orders to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and overthrow the current government.
A symbol of Ukrainian national pride was destroyed.
Myria, the world’s largest cargo aircraft, and made in Ukraine, was destroyed on a strategic airfield west of Kyiv that has changed hands multiple times between Ukraine and Russia.
I filed this short story on Myria:
Myria, the world’s largest cargo aircraft, and made in Ukraine, was destroyed on a strategic airfield west of Kyiv that has changed hands multiple times between Ukraine and Russia.
I filed this short story on Myria:
But morale is high. I had this exchange with a member of Ukraine’s territorial defense here in western Ukraine:
“If you had a message for the Russian military and Vladimir Putin, what would it be?” I asked
“Go home, or you will die here,” he said.
“If you had a message for the Russian military and Vladimir Putin, what would it be?” I asked
“Go home, or you will die here,” he said.
You can hear that Ukrainian territorial defense member on NPR this morning, along with Sofia Kryvushko, a compsci college senior who fled Kharkiv yesterday:
npr.org/2022/02/28/108…
npr.org/2022/02/28/108…
Sofia Kryvushko fled the NE city of Kharkiv, which is under heavy bombardment today. She spent 20 hours on a train, passing through a pitch-dark Kyiv at night. The sounds of crying children filled her crowded railway car.
npr.org/2022/02/28/108…
npr.org/2022/02/28/108…
In the city near where I’m staying in western Ukraine, there's a dramatic feeling in the air. It seems like everyone talks in whispers. About escape routes, about south and west and east. Battles, videos social media... engrossed and exchanging new information...
Like this video, of bombardment from Kharkiv. We have determined that it is in the northeast part of the city:
Some very graphic videos emerging from Kharkiv, incl one I won't post but can describe: an elderly woman, pale as a ghost, who crawled/dragged away from an explosion. Tourniquet on her bloody left leg. Reason becomes clear as the camera settles on her foot, sitting on the street.
Already Kharkiv civilians were suffering. Sofia, who left there yesterday, said there was no food. People waiting in line for so much as a potato
Today images of body parts, dead bodies and bits of human flesh emerging. These two don't have that, via Ukraine Ministry Interior
Today images of body parts, dead bodies and bits of human flesh emerging. These two don't have that, via Ukraine Ministry Interior
Ukrainians are preparing for the worst. Talking about the possibility of losing food supplies, a Ukrainian told me dryly, “It will be spring tomorrow. We will grow something.”
Mayor of Kharkiv Ihor Terekhov, where the video in this thread is, said that the shelling killed 9, injured 37, including 3 children
"Four people, came out of the bomb shelter to collect water and died. The family - two adults and three children - were burned alive in the car."
"Four people, came out of the bomb shelter to collect water and died. The family - two adults and three children - were burned alive in the car."
Emerging from bomb shelter (aka underground parking garage) after the all clear in Western Ukraine… to lightly falling snow in a city center
LISTEN: The sounds of air raid sirens and locals rushing with their belongings to a bomb shelter, below a kindergarten:
soundcloud.com/tim-mak-453990…
soundcloud.com/tim-mak-453990…
This is Lviv, in western Ukraine, this evening. A beautiful city with a stunning train station, it has become a hub for refugees headed west away from the fighting
The weather is incredibly cold, and at the train station, filled with refugees, a fire was lit to keep warm
Police with rifles patrol, while women sing a patriotic song (turned Ukrainian tik tok trend) and volunteers feed hungry and cold refugees
A little bit more from the city center of Lviv: normally packed with traffic but now almost empty except for the train station which is absolutely packed
One problem is emerging: foreigners are not being permitted to leave the country in some cases as authorities demand seats be for Ukrainians first, and esp. women and children
I spoke to a number of African and Indian citizens trapped in the train station in Lviv
I spoke to a number of African and Indian citizens trapped in the train station in Lviv
Another problem is looming: a leader of a humanitarian group here warned me of food shortages in western Ukraine in a matter of days — basic supplies are having trouble crossing the border… exacerbating the refugee crisis here
Here’s a better photo of bomb shelter pup
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